Where can I get Irréversible on DVD? (1 Viewer)

[Anthony Neilson]

Yep - just read a post over at DVD Talk's forum where someone confirms there are no extras despite being listed on the box. I am SO pissed off about this. I didn't buy the R2 because I'd heard about this edition. I simply can't understand how a company could list specs on the box that don't exist on the disc. To my mind, it's nothing short of fraudulent. There are over 13,000 members of the HTF and it's about time we flexed some collective muscle with companies that treat us with this kind of contempt.

 

[Marc_Savoie]

I wonder if the delayed candian release will contain any of the extras??? I doubt it, as it's being handled by perenially evil Alliance Atlantis.'
This is a shame though. I just ordered the US version online via Amazon and expect it this week. I'd be buying this DVD no matter what, but was looking forward to the extras...
Lion's Gate isn't impressing me too much these days... but it's good to hear the audio/visual are supposedly nice.

 

[Yumbo]

just finished watching.

strange, annoying, shocking, numbing, detailed...

looks ok...shot on DV?
sound is good.

ok, it's different, but not my cup of tea I guess.
left me cold by the end of it.

extras include trailers, and crap really.

overindulgent direction is my opinion.

 

[Bill J]

This isn't the first time they've done this, as it also happened with their first release of Monster's Ball, which listed over an hour of behind-the-scenes footage (there were actually only about 4 minutes)

On The Grey Zone DVD there was no feature length commentary track, while it was on the packaging.

 

[CarlosL]

Hey everyone!

I just finished watching Irreversible, and it truly is going to take some time for those images to become less vivid...

I do have a question however:

Is the man whom Pierre kills at The Rectum NOT the man who actually rapes Alex? I've seen reviews indicating either way. After my viewing, I was under the impression that Pierre does in fact kill the rapist. If that's not the case, then dear god, this movie is even MORE depressing than I thought.

Any insight/explanations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Yumbo]

looked like the same man to me.

I have gotten over the shock of watching it now.

 

[Neil_Duffy]

To answer your question -

Pierre doesnot kill the rapist. There is a specific, ironic shot in the club, where we see the rapist smirking, as the two exit.

 

[Aurel Savin]

Rented this last night and while definetelly brutal, it is a phenomenal movie.

I didn't see the Pierre, beating the guy to death with the fire extinguisher, scene coming ... and it was a shocker.

Also liked how the camera moves mimick the situation and anxiety of the situation ... almost like a third character. Complete chaos in the beginning and lingering calm in the end.

 

[JonZ]

Regarding Pierre...

They difinitely got the wrong guy
which is part of the point of the film.

 

[Felix Martinez]

This was truly a distresssing and depressing film meant to shock and provoke the viewer (and succeeds).

I found the first half hour or so pretty much unwatchable (I'm referring to the use of the camera).

The death by fire extinguisher sequence

...is the most realistic and unflinching use of graphic violence in a film that I have ever seen.

But after about 5 smashes to the head, it just made no sense (to me) why Pierre would continue for another eternity until the man's skull has broken apart before our eyes - unless it was an excuse for the director to take the sequence to the extreme in one long "money" shot.

Kinda reveals the pathology of the filmmaker, doesn't it?

Nothing in Pierre's character revealed before (or after) this sequence gives insight to this over the top behavior.

One may argue that "people snap," etc. but it just seems that Noe was just trying to pile up the irony - which he does throughout the film to an annoying degree.

I mean by the time characters start talking about...

red tunnels in dreams and anal sex (a pre-cursor - or post-cursor), and then Noe introduces a pregnancy test


...for yet another layer of tragedy - I lost respect for anything "truthful" Noe was trying to achieve. There are a lot of great ideas in this film that are derailed by the director's need (or desire) to impress.

The DVD transfer was extremely poor IMHO. Did not hold up at all on my 92 inch screen. Compression, aliasing, interlace shearing, softness, plugged up colors - you name it. Maybe it looks better on smaller monitors...?

Sound was rough, but effective. Lots of low frequencies, particularly during the first half of the film.

My $.02,

 

[Aurel Savin]

Nothing in Pierre's character revealed before (or after) this sequence gives insight to this over the top behavior.

 

[Felix Martinez]

I think he loved Alex a lot

Yes, I found the film very sad - sad that such talent behind and in front of the camera felt compelled to make the "irreversible" decisions that led to the making of this film.

It's the perfect cure for optimism...

 

[Aurel Savin]

Yes, I found the film very sad - sad that such talent behind and in front of the screen felt compelled to make the "irreversible" decisions that led to the making of this film.

 

[Felix Martinez]

Oops - mistook the QUOTE and SPOILER buttons. Fixed.

This film has me ass-backward!

Cheers,

 

[chris rick]

Well I have to vehemently disagree that Gaspar Noe is calling attention to anything in this film merely for its own sake--it's FAR too easy to say that about such an in your face film. Case in point: It's no accident that a 2001: A Space Odyssey poster hangs in Alex and Marcus' bedroom--The point of the film--at least one of them, is not exploitation or every shot calling attention to itself for the director's own sake--but rather it is about an audience looking beneath the veneer to see people that could have made better choices to prevent all the senseless violence and pain that occurs. The lasting image of 2001 is of the Star Child, returning to Earth with new knowledge--with new wisdom to live in the world anew. Irreversible is about this-- in almost every action of the characters in this film there is a certain naivety--It's as if they speak without thinking. For example: The Belluci character saying "Women are always in control" She doesn't even think about the possibility that there are those who feel otherwise through their heinous actions. Now, in no way of course does this make her guilty (obviously) for what happened to her. What the film does suggest (and it accomplishes very well due to it's structure of telling the narrative in reverse--every action leading up to the crimes is magnified that much more) is that every action, every word, means something far more than we may even realize it does. No one should ever have to go through what the three main characters in this film have to--but Noe suggests that like the Star Child, we are capable of understanding that there is pure EVIL (observe the rapist grinning after the scene with the extinguisher) and that we may in some ways prevent this type of thing (along with many other things) by acting more wisely. We can, as one character suggests in the beginning of the film-- just go on living, even though time, as he suggests, cannot heal some things. That's a tough pill to swallow, and yes it is incredibly depressing. But it's also what it means to be human.

This is a great film, but definitely not one I could watch many times.

 

[Felix Martinez]

The point of the film--at least one of them, is not exploitation or every shot calling attention to itself for the director's own sake--but rather it is about an audience looking beneath the veneer to see people that could have made better choices to prevent all the senseless violence and pain that occurs.

I agree there are lots of nice ideas in this film; however, I felt that Noe's creative choices got in the way of those ideas and called attention to themselves. This may have been unintentional. However, Noe is known in his past work to use confrontational "shock" tactics to provoke an audience to make a point, so it's my belief that it *is* intentional and justified in his eyes.

His current filmmaking method comes across to me as a kind of creative "temper tantrum" to make a point, and IMHO unbalances any positive message in his work. He's much too talented for that, and I look forward to his growth as a human being and filmmaker to see where he goes from here.

And that's all I have to say! Take care, folks!

 

[Dan Brecher]

looks ok...shot on DV?

Super 16mm. Telecined to HD for post-production. Then to 35mm for release.

Dan

 

[MatS]

I know this is the dvd review thread and not the movie discussion thread, but.....

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Is the Lion's Gate film uncut? Any comparisons with the PAL DVD?

 

[Marc_Savoie]

Any comparisons with the PAL DVD?

The Lion's Gate DVD doesn't have nearly the amount of extras there are in other regions. You can read reviews of the Irreversible DVDs from all regions here:
http://www.dvd-basen.dk/uk/home.php3...land=%25&ok=go